Dominique Clément
Why does historical training at universities place so little emphasis on research methods? The rise of digital humanities presents a fundamental challenge to how we train historians. But for anyone pondering a career in academia, it’s a perilous journey where the risks might not be worth the rewards.
We are in the digital age yet historical research remains primarily a modified pencil and paper discipline – laptops instead of paper, cameras instead of pencils. I’m an historian who happens to teach in sociology. Research methods are central to the undergraduate and graduate curriculum in sociology. In contrast, historical training remains the equivalent to throwing your kid into the deep-end of the pool – head off to the archives and figure it out on your own.
The lack of training in digital research methodologies is a profound failing of our discipline. There are few Canadian conference sessions, workshops, publications, or networks where historians can dialogue about their experiments with new technology. In a special edition of the Canadian Historical Review in 2020 on the use of digital tools for historical research, Ian Milligan discusses his survey of historians’ use of digital cameras for archival research: 92 per cent used a digital camera but 90 per cent had no formal training. Over 40 per cent took over 2000 images for their last project. But 70 per cent simply used their own device rather than professional equipment.
Technology is changing, but not our training. Most historians have to teach themselves how to use digital tools. Continue reading
In the decade following the Second World War, the population of Toronto doubled, in large part because of a steady influx of immigrants. By 1971, the population doubled again to over 2 million, causing the city to expand geographically as the agricultural fields that surrounded the downtown core became part of the urban sprawl. Central to this was the expansion of the subway, near which developers to built high-rises, thus allowing more people to live within walking distance of mass transit. With immigrants from around the world looking for housing on arrival in Canada, these communities were diverse and held up as examples of Canada’s multiculturalism policy put forth by the Pierre Trudeau government.
I’m one who believes that, at its core, history is about storytelling. Historians tell the stories of those who came before – and the best historians do so in a way that is both engaging and meaningful to the audience. For some, that has included telling their own stories and using their life experiences to illuminate larger trends and offer a window into specific times and places.